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MAJOR-GENERAL 

ANTHONY WAYNE 



Died December 15 i7g(5 



Printed by tlir 

. iKl'STEES OF THE 

Soldiers and Sailok^ 

KRTK T>wvva 



MAJOR-GENERAL 

ANTHONY WAYNE 



Died December 15 1796 






^ Gift 

7 Ap'OS 






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ANTHONY WAYNE was botn in the township 
of Eastown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 
on the I St of January, 1745. After receiving 
a good education he embraced the profession of a 
surveyor. He was a member of the Assembly in 
1774, and one of the Committee of Safety in 1775. 
He resigned his civil office in September, 1775, and 
after sometime spent in military study and practice, 
raised a regiment of which he was commissioned 
Colonel. His services were as follows : In the 
spring of 1776, bore a brilliant part in the battle of 
Three Rivers, Canada. In February, 1777, commis- 
sioned Brigadier-General and served with Wash- 
ington in the New Jersej- and the Delaware Valley 
Campaign. He led the attack of the American right 
wing at Germantown, and received the special 
commendation of Washington for his conduct at 
Monmouth. His surprise and capture of Stony 
Point was among the most gallant events of the 
war. He was present at the surrender of Corn- 
wallis. His la.st sphere of duty during the Revo- 
lution was in Georgia, from which he succeeded 
in driving the enemy. From his wonderful dash 
and courage he won the appellation of "Mad 
Anthony." In the year 1792, Wayne was commis- 
sioned Major-General, and assigned to the North- 
western frontier. He gained a signal victory over 
the savages on the Maumee, in August, 1794. He 
was appointed the Commissioner to deal with the 
savages on the part of the United vStates, and effected 
a treaty of peace at Greenville, Ohio, in 1795, which 
opened the way for the settlement of Northwest- 
ern Pennsylvania, and Northern Ohio. 

General Wayne's mission being fulfilled, in the 
fall of 1796 he embarked in a small vessel at Detroit 
for Presque Isle, now Erie, on his way homeward. 
During the passage down the lake, he was attacked 
with gout, which had afflicted him for some years, 



and had been much aggravated by his exposure in 
the Western wilds. The vessel being without suit- 
able remedies, he could obtain no relief.and on land- 
ing at Presque Isle he was in a dangerous condition. 
By his own request, he was taken to one of the block- 
houses on the Garrison tract, the attic of which had 
been fitted up as a sleeping apartment. Dr. J. C. 
Wallace, who had served with him as a surgeon 
during his Indian campaign, and who was familiar 
with his disease, was then stationed at P'ort Fay- 
ette, Pittsburgh. The General sent a messenger 
for the doctor, and the latter started instantly for 
Erie, but on reaching Franklin was astonished to 
leafn the news of his death, which occurred on the 
15th of December, 1796. During his illness every 
attention was paid to the distinguished invalid 
that circumstances would permit. Two days after 
his death the body was buried, as he had directed, 
in a plain coffin, with his Uniform and boots on, at 
the foot of the flagstaff of the block-house. Among 
those who helped to lay out and inter the remains 
was Captain Daniel Dobbins, long one of the best 
known citizens of Erie. The top of the coffin was 
marked with the initials of his name, "A. W.," his 
age and the year of his decease in round-headed 
brass tacks, driven into the wood. 

An account of General Wayne at the age of 
thirty-two describes him as "about middle size, 
with a firm, manly countenance, commanding port 
and eagle eye. His looks corresponded well with 
his character, indicating a soul noble, ardent and 
daring. In his intercourse with his officers and 
men, he was affable and agreeable, and had the art 
of communicating to their bosoms the gallant and 
chivalrous spirit which glowed in his own. His 
dress was scrupulously neat and elegant, his 
movements were quick, his manners eauy and 
graceful." 



In the fall of 1808, General Wayne's daughter, 
Mrs. Atlee, was taken seriously ill. While upon 
her sick bed, slie was seized with a strong- desire 
to have her father's remains moved to the family 
burying ground. Realizing that it was her last 
sickness and anxious to console her dying mo- 
ments, Colonel Isaac Wayne, the General's son, 
consented to go to Erie from Chester, for the pur- 
pose of complying with her wishes. The journey 
was made in the spring of 1809, with a horse and 
sulky, through what was then a wilderness for 
much of the distance. On arriving in Erie, Colonel 
Wayne put up at Buehler's Hotel, and sent for 
Dr. Wallace, who had been called to minister to 
the General. The Doctor agreed to attend to the 
disinterment and preparation of the remains, and 
Colonel Wayne gave him entire charge of the oper- 
ation, declining to witness it on the ground that he 
preferred to remember his father as he knew him 
when living. Thirteen years having elapsed, it 
was supposed that the corpse would be decom- 
posed, but, on opening the grave, all present were 
amazed to find the body petrified with the excep- 
tion of one foot and leg, which were partially 
gone. The boot on the unsound leg had decayed 
and most of the clothing was missing. Dr. Wallace 
carefully prepared the remains for transportation. 
The skeleton was placed in a small box, and the 
residue with the implements used in the oper- 
ation were returned to the cofiin which had 
been left undisturbed, and it was again cov- 
ered with earth. The box was secured to 
Colonel Wayne's sulky and carried to Eastern 
Pennsylvania, where it was deposited in a sec- 
ond grave among those of the General's de- 
ceased relatives. In tlie labor of dissection, which 
took place on the Garrison grounds, Dr. Wallace 
was assisted by Robert Murray, Robert Irwin, 



Richard Clement, and perhaps others. General 
Wayne's sound boot was given to James Duncan, 
who found that it fitted him, had a mate made for 
it and wore the pair until they could no longer be 
used. 

At the time of the disinterment, Captain Daniel 
Dobbins and family were living on the Garrison 
grounds, in a large building erected for the use of 
the commanding officer. Mrs. Dobbins was al- 
lowed to look at the body, with some of her lady 
acquaintances, and obtained a lock of the dead 
hero's hair. She had a vivid recollection of the 
incident when nearly in her one hundredth year. 
The body, she said, was not hard like stone, but 
was more of the consistency of soft chalk. The 
hairs of the head pulled out readily, and the gen- 
eral appearance of the corpse was much like that 
of a plaster of Paris cast. 

In explanation of Dr. Wallace's course, it is ar- 
gued that he acted in accordance with what the 
circumstances of the case seemed to require. It 
was necessary that the remains should be placed in 
as small a space as pos.sible to accommodate the 
means of conveyance. Colonel Wayne is reported 
to have said, in regard to the affair : "I always 
regretted it ; had I known the state the remains 
were in before separated I think I should certainly 
have had them again deposited tliere and let them 
rest, and had a monument erected to his memory." 

William H. Holstein. a grandson of General 
Wayne, in a letter printed in the Erie Observer of 
February 13th, 18S0, states that "Colonel Wayne 
was not aware of the condition of his father's re- 
mains until all was completed or he would not 
have consented to the removal." 

Some years ago, Dr. Edward W. Germer, of Erie, 
who had a profound veneration for Wayne's mem- 
ory, read a sketch of the burial and removal, and 
was prompted to look up the place of the grave. 



He first ascertained the site of the block-house, 
which had long before disappeared with the other 
structures, and digging at the probable foot of the 
flagstaff readily found the grave and coffin. The 
lid of the coffin, with the initials, etc., before 
described, upon it, was fairly preserved, but the 
balance had rotted away. Largely through the 
efforts of Dr. Edward W. Germer and Captain 
John Welsh, an appropriation was obtained from 
the Legislature, with which a substantial log block- 
house in imitation of the original one was built 
to mark the site, and the grounds were surrounded 
by a railing, with cannon at each of the four cor- 
ners. The grave has been neatly and substantially 
built up with stone, and the coffin lid, with other 
relics of the early days, is properly cared for within 
the block-house by the officers of the Pennsylvania 
Soldiers and Sailors Home, which institution now 
occupies the grounds— the whole is appropriate a 
monument to the hero as could well be devised. 
The Wayne familj-^ burial ground, where the 
bones of the gallant General repose, is in the 
cemelry attached to St. David's Episcopal Church, 
at Radnor, Delaware County, not far from the 
Chester County line, less than an hour's walk from 
Wayne Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and 
fourteen miles west from Philadelphia. Not far 
distant is Paoli, the scene of the massacre which 
was so brilliantly avenged at Stony Point. The 
Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati erected 
a monument over the grave on the 4th of July, 1809, 
which is still in position. In close proximity are 
the last resting places of General Wayne's wife, son 
and daughter, and of numerous relations. The 
house where Wayne was born, near Paoli, is still 
standing, or was in 1876, and his decendants, who 
occupy it, have collected and preserved many ar- 
ticles of interest as having been associated with his 
long and illustrious career. 



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